I don’t know who coined the term “dog days of summer,” but they clearly weren’t talking about music blogs. As the hottest month of the year wraps up, there’s a lot to look back on. Long anticipated covers finally surfaced by the likes of Fever Ray and Mavis Staples. Out-of-nowhere surprises bowled us over, like the bevy of joyful “F*** You”s. Brian Wilson grabbed the brass ring with his George Gershwin tribute disc and we celebrated the birthdays of Madonna and Elvis Costello. Our friends at Consequence of Sound helped us navigate the world of festival covers and the Roots took us through some U2.
Find all this and more as we collect our favorite August posts. Florence and the Machine sang that the dog days are over. For Cover Me though, the dog days never really began.
Features
• Presenting: The Five Best “F*** You” Covers (So Far) | Cee-Lo Green’s instant-classic soul jam gets turned rock, bluegrass, folk, classical, and more!
• In the Spotlight: My Morning Jacket
• Consequence of Sound Presents…Best Fest Covers
• They Say It’s Your Birthday: Madonna
• Review: Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
News
• Morose Indie Madness: Frightened Rabbit Cover the National in San Francisco | Two of the best bummed-out bands around merge on “Fake Empire.”
• Watch: Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples’ Creedence Duet
• Meme Alert: Kreepy Kidz Bop Video Mashups
• John Mayer Covers California Gurls…Twice!
• Sun Kil Moon Breaks Your Heart with Some Jackson 5
Videos
• The Swell Season Bring Their Oscar-Winning Hollers to Neutral Milk Hotel | “Two-Headed Boy” romps and rolls with the Once stars/singers dueting again.
• On the ‘Tube: Jordan Corey
• The Baseballs Invite You to Rock and Roll Prom with ‘Chasing Cars’
• Sassy Schoolteachers, Man-Boy in Dress, Horny Pirates, Batwoman Cover Top Ten Hits
• Indie Hip-Hop Duo N.A.S.A. Shoot Lasers…in Space!
Downloads
• The Pretty Reckless Mash Together the xx and Eminem | Gossip Girl Taylor Momsen’s band pulls off a surprisingly decent cover mini-medley of “Islands” and “Love the Way You Lie.”
• Download Two Drastically Different Takes on Joy Division’s “She’s Lost Control”
• Fever Ray Spook-ifies Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street”
• The Arcade Fire Go Gospel on Jay Reatard
• Neon Hitch Drops It Like It’s Hot
Song of the Day
• The Roots, “Sunday Bloody Sunday / Pride (In the Name of Love)” (U2 covers) | The late night stars perform at an NAACP ceremony honoring Bono.
• YACHT, “Nausea” (X cover)
• Bob Dylan, “The Times We’ve Known” (Charles Aznavour cover)
• Freddegredde, 32 Song Mega-Medley
• Sarah McLeod, “Dancing in the Dark” (Bruce Springsteen cover)